Arch Linux

windsheep

Member

Registered: 2011-06-29

Posts: 17

vmware workstation 7.1.4 vs. linux3: "/etc/init.d/vmware" [s]

Hi!

Mainly this is about using VMware Workstation in conjunction with a newer kernel than supported by VMware (they are always decades behind and their Linux support is somewhat sluggish). I took the challenge:

uname -a
Linux myhost 3.0-ARCH #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Aug 17 21:55:57 CEST 2011 x86_64 Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz GenuineIntel GNU/Linux

Our wiki says:

3.0 kernels

There is a set of patches that handle correctly the linux kernel 3.0 on: http://weltall.heliohost.org/wordpress/ … 9-updated/

VMware module builder does not handle correctly the new kernel version string which has only two parts (3.x) instead of three (2.6.xx). See this thread: https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=123695.

The easier solution for that point is to patch two binaries:

# sed 's/\x83\xe8\x03\x83\xf8\x01\x0f\x96\xc0/\x83\xe8\x02\x83\xf8\x01\x0f\x96\xc0/' -i /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libvmware-modconfig-console.so/libvmware-modconfig-console.so
# sed 's/\x83\xe8\x03\x83\xf8\x01\x0f\x96\xc0/\x83\xe8\x02\x83\xf8\x01\x0f\x96\xc0/' -i /usr/lib/vmware/lib/libvmware-modconfig.so/libvmware-modconfig.so

So I did this:
1. installed the workstation .bundle via the GUI setup
2. binary-patched with the mentioned sed stuff
3. ran the patch shell-script

patching file vmblock-only/linux/dentry.c
patching file vmblock-only/linux/filesystem.c
patching file vmci-only/linux/driver.c
patching file vmmon-only/linux/driver.c
patching file vmmon-only/linux/hostif.c
patching file vmmon-only/linux/iommu.c
patching file vmnet-only/driver.c
patching file vmnet-only/filter.c
patching file vmnet-only/hub.c
patching file vsock-only/linux/af_vsock.c
patching file vsock-only/linux/util.c
sh: /etc/init.d/vmware: No such file or directory
Unable to stop services

Looks good:

All done, you can now run VMWare WorkStation.
Modules sources backup can be found in the '/usr/lib/vmware/modules/source-workstation7.1.4-2011-08-21-00:49:35-backup' directory

4. But when I issue "vmware" on Terminal (linux-headers are installed) I get the problems: It doesn't start. I get an error message and the log is:

[root@myhost vmware-root]# more setup-7907.log 
Aug 21 00:51:58.390: app-139960191493888| Log for VMware Workstation pid=7907 version=7.1.4 build=build-385536 option=Release
Aug 21 00:51:58.390: app-139960191493888| The process is 64-bit.
Aug 21 00:51:58.390: app-139960191493888| Host codepage=UTF-8 encoding=UTF-8
Aug 21 00:51:58.390: app-139960191493888| Logging to /tmp/vmware-root/setup-7907.log
Aug 21 00:51:58.445: app-139960191493888| modconf query interface initialized
Aug 21 00:51:58.446: app-139960191493888| modconf library initialized
Aug 21 00:51:58.507: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.513: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.540: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.561: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.578: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.677: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.683: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.687: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.689: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.691: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.732: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.734: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.737: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.742: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.745: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.752: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.775: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.875: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.880: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.885: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.887: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.890: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:58.896: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:58.919: app-139960191493888| Your GCC version: 4.6
Aug 21 00:51:59.081: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:59.086: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:59.088: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:59.091: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:59.093: app-139960191493888| Trying to find a suitable PBM set for kernel 3.0-ARCH.
Aug 21 00:51:59.096: app-139960191493888| Unable to execute stop.  Error:
Aug 21 00:51:59.096: app-139960191493888| Failed to execute child process "/etc/init.d/vmware" (No such file or directory)

I remember that my installer complained about being unable to handle the services due to arch's init system.

"No rc.* style init script directories were given to the installer"

Is there some trick to execute vmware with that init system?

Best,
wishi

Last edited by windsheep (2011-08-21 21:04:07)

Spider.007

Member

Registered: 2004-06-20

Posts: 1,175

Re: vmware workstation 7.1.4 vs. linux3: "/etc/init.d/vmware" [s]

Did you have a look at https://aur.archlinux.org/packages.php?ID=45952 ? It seems to contain a working wmware-rc

windsheep

Member

Registered: 2011-06-29

Posts: 17

Re: vmware workstation 7.1.4 vs. linux3: "/etc/init.d/vmware" [s]

Thanks, this solved my issue!

Spider.007

Member

Registered: 2004-06-20

Posts: 1,175

Re: vmware workstation 7.1.4 vs. linux3: "/etc/init.d/vmware" [s]

Don't forget to mark this thread [solved]